Posing with their trophy, the varsity cheer team takes a picture following their sixth place performance at the Universal Cheerleading Associtation’s National High School Cheerleading Competition. This was the highest the team has placed in school history. “[Breaking the record] is like more than I could ask for, so I’m really proud of them,” Head Cheer Coach Nadira King said. “It’s so exciting because now they have the confidence and they’ve had a little taste of something good. I think that will be good for our future as a program.” Photo Courtesy of CPHS Cheer

The dim lights cast a shadow over the girls as the announcer’s voice booms over the speaker, school after school being announced in placement order. The team locks hands, some of them biting their lips out of nerves. Finally, they hear the words “Cedar Park” float throughout the arena, euphoria filling their bodies as they realize the feat they’ve accomplished. 

Over the course of Feb. 7-10, the cheer team competed at the Universal Cheerleader Association National High School Cheerleading Competition. The squad earned 6th place overall in the Varsity Coed Division I Non Tumbling Game Day Division, the highest the team has placed in school history with a raw score of 91.2.

“I am so unbelievably proud,” Head Cheer Coach Nadira King said. “We have a very young team, so that was a little scary. It was kind of like a start-over year, but they just really stepped it up and they just got better and better with every competition that we went to.” 

Throughout the three days of performances, the divisions are cut down to the final seven teams in the nation. Competing in a new division, the team placed 2nd in the prelims run, which senior backspot Kate Bremer said gave them the initial confidence needed for the historic run.

“Prelims was a shock to us because no one was expecting it,” Bremer said. “I think it did make us feel more confident about the next two days, so it wasn’t as much of a surprise that we made it to finals. It was so reassuring.”

The squad advanced to nationals after receiving a bid at UCA Regionals in November. However, they fell short of finals at the state competition this year, and experienced venue technical difficulties at UCA Nationals last year that halted their run in the semi-finals. Junior Captain Sophia Struve said the team used the setbacks as motivation throughout the entire competition.

“We really just wanted redemption going into nationals,” Struve said. “[Making it to finals] was very exciting and it just felt like a weight was lifted off our shoulders. We were just so happy to be there at finals for the first time in a few years.”

With only seven seniors on the team, Struve said the motivation to do well for them was important for the team before their finals performance, which would also be the final performance on a cheer team for several of the seniors.

“Being backstage before our last time [performing], and knowing that it was our last time especially with the seniors, we had nothing to lose,” Struve said. “We were just going to go out there and do what we’ve trained to do. We all just kind of pump each other up.”

Bremer said the seniors feel very proud to leave a legacy of their squad having the school record of 6th place overall in their division. 

“It just almost validates our hard work, but also just makes us proud because we did it as a team,” Bremer said. “I think in every performance that we did, we just gave everything that we had, so that we could be proud of ourselves.”

With only a few seniors graduating, King said the future is very bright for the cheer squad. 

“[Breaking the record] is more than I could ask for, so I’m really proud of the [team],” King said. “It’s so exciting because now they have the confidence and they’ve had a little taste of something good. I think that will be good for our future as a program.”